The Man at Thetis Cove : An Historical Novel set in Esquimalt

War Two now six years past. A worldwide ideological conflict between communism and capitalism has spawned war in Korea. Civil Defence preparations are rapidly pushing forward in Esquimalt and Victoria, with added measures in the event of a nuclear or chemical attack. Shipyards and the naval base are abuzz. Newspaper ads are calling for more military recruits, women and men. Casual visitors to Thetis Cove, a remote part of Esquimalt Harbour, might assume that three floathouse squatters are living there in hermit-like freedom. But two of the squatters have links to worldly affairs that go deeper than imagined. Four curious, adventuresome youths enter the squatters' realm of secrets and paranoia where abortion is illegal in 1951 Canada, and where the grim, insidious results of battle fatigue rule an army veteran's thoughts. The youths are firmly warned by May, waitress at the Schooner Coffee Bar on Admirals Road, to stay away from Thetis Cove. A fifth hard-case youth sometimes tags along uninvited. His quick temper and erratic, inconsiderate behaviour hammers them all toward inevitable tragedy. In the depth of summer, the land is hard baked; the sky has nothing to give but sunshine, heat, and changeable winds. Forests are ablaze. The smell of wood smoke permeates Esquimalt and Victoria. Through all this, the veteran, a Hollywood scriptwriter and former Canadian army photographer who fled Senator Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunt in the U.S., absorbs the ambiance of a squatters' sanctum at Thetis Cove while being plagued by mental and emotional wounds. Then, two strangers come nosing around... The author hitched through Europe fourteen years after the end of World War Two. Then he...